The Sutter County Fire Department says a plane crashed into the Sutter Buttes at about 9 a.m. Tuesday.
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(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli). A firefighter puts water on the flames of a fire caused when a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane crashed in the Sutter Butte mountains, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, near Yuba City, Calif. They were about to conduct some routine training. They did not release the pilots’ names or any information about the condition of the surviving airman. It also is the base for the T-38 Talon, a training aircraft, and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned surveillance drone. This spring, area Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa offered a budget amendment to keep the U-2 operating at Beale through 2017. The U-2 provides imagery and electronic measurements, according to the Air Force. Air Force Times has learned that a lieutenant colonel and captain were aboard the plane at the time of the crash. He pledged to support the family of the deceased pilot and said surveillance pilots will mourn the loss.
U-2 planes are still flying high, after being introduced almost six decades ago. “In fact, we are going to continue flying U-2 missions around the world and around the clock”, said Broadwell.
It was not the first time that a Beale U-2 has crashed in Northern California.
In 1996, a U-2 crashed in Oroville, killing the pilot, Capt.
The ejector seat had been deployed, but the pilot was found dead still strapped in some distance away.
Although the cause of the crash is still under investigation, there are other questions that could be answered about the U-2- such as how are U-2 planes being used today?
“I was just passing through, I had finished a job”, said pilot Pete Spyres, a crop-dusting pilot who was flying his helicopter nearby. Duane Dively, a pilot from Beale Air Force Base who was deployed to the Middle East.
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Those two accidents broke a five-year run in which the U-2 aircraft did not experience any serious mishaps. The board is expected to consist of officers from Beale Air Force Base and from the Air Force Safety Center, which oversee all inspection and safety functions for the Air Force.
